


Make Me a Match

by lanalucy



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Conspiracy, Cuddling & Snuggling, Exhibitionism, F/M, Fake Marriage, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff and Crack, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Gen, Hair-pulling, Heavy Petting, Interfering Parents, Kissing, Marriage Proposal, Married Sex, Masturbation, Matchmaking, Mutual Masturbation, No Babies, Non-Explicit Sex, Resolved Sexual Tension, Season/Series 01, Secret Marriage, Sequel, Sleep Groping, Teasing, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-19
Updated: 2013-07-22
Packaged: 2017-12-15 11:41:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/849149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lanalucy/pseuds/lanalucy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For TNS, who requested a sequel to Lost In Transit over on ff.  I don't think this was quite what you had in mind.  Sorry.  </p>
<p>And for bluuefiire, whose comments kept me inspired.</p>
<p>And newnumbertwo, who is the most wonderful beta EVAR.  :D</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Make Me a Match

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Lost In Transit](https://archiveofourown.org/works/812774) by [lanalucy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lanalucy/pseuds/lanalucy). 



> Since I usually read something obsessively before I post it and I'm not this time, please point out any errors you find.
> 
> I hope the ending lives up to your expectations!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Conspiracy

“OK.  Let me get this straight.  Kara Thrace was engaged to marry your son, Zak, and you met her when you were called planetside after the accident in which he died.  You invited her to take a billet on _Galactica_ , and after some period of time, she took you up on it, and as you got to know each other and worked through your grief together, you began to look on her as the daughter you never had.  Recently, you found out that she was actually married to Zak and **is** your daughter-in-law.  And now you want me to help you manipulate Kara and Lee into realizing they’re in love with each other?  Did I get all that right?”

Laura’s stern look gave him a moment’s pause, but he pushed past it and nodded as he said, “Precisely.”

“You’re sure about their feelings?”

“My crew, and the two of them, may think I’m blind, but I see the way they look at each other and touch each other without thinking about it.  Kara lets things slip sometimes when she’s tired and doesn’t think I pick up on them.  I think she was in love with Lee even back then.  If Zak had lived, and if Lee weren't so stubborn, they probably could have had a group marriage.  They used to be common on Caprica, and they were all three Caprican, even if they weren’t living there.”

She nodded, “One of my sets of great-grandparents had a group marriage.  I loved going to their home when I was little. All that love in one place.”

“They weren’t as common on Tauron, but I remember a few from my childhood.”

Laura’s eyes took on a delighted gleam and asked, “So, where do you want to start?  And who can we enlist to help us carry out our dastardly plan?”  She rubbed her hands together gleefully.  “Oh, This is going to be fun!”  Her expression was decidedly unPresidential.

*&*

“Shove over, Kara.”  Lee sat down on the edge of Kara’s rack and moved as if to lie down.

“Lee!  What the frak?”

“You didn’t read the memo?  Some maintenance malfunction, so we all have to double up while they refit bunkrooms.  They even assigned us ‘rack partners.’  I’m sure I could switch with Hot Dog if you’d rather sleep with him.”

“Fine.”  Kara groused as she moved toward the wall.  “You’d better not have cold toes.”  She took note that the other pilots were doubling up, and that there were Raptor pilots and ECOs in the bunkroom as well.  

There was generalized grumbling among the other pilots until Kara shouted, “Enough!  Even your CAG is doubling up, so get over yourselves and get some shuteye.”  She looked at Lee and asked, “You still sleep on that side of the bed?”  He nodded, and they settled in for the night.  

Only one pilot had been paying enough attention to notice the casual way she’d asked and he’d answered.  Kat tucked away the information to ask about it later.   _He_ would know.

*&*

Kara woke up gradually, warmer than she’d been in months, and stretched languidly.   _Oh, I’ve missed waking up with a man wrapped around me_.  Her stretching had rubbed her up against Lee and she froze momentarily.   _Mmm, I’ve missed_ that _, too._  She spared a moment to remember early-morning sleepy frakking with Zak, and a low rumble rose in her throat.  

Lee’s arm tightened across her ass.  “Stop.  Moving.”  He was all but growling at her, and she giggled.  He opened one eye at her.  “You think this is funny, Lieutenant?”  

“I do, sir.”  Her smirk was visible, even in the dim light of the curtained rack.

He moved his palm to her regulation-pantied ass and pressed her harder into him.  He watched her eyes darken.  “I’ll show you funny, Kara.”  Before he could do or say anything else, reveille sounded, and the room erupted into activity.

*&*

“Lee, isn’t this the third time this week that we’ve been locked in a room together?  Think somebody’s trying to tell us something?”

He looked at her from his position against the opposite wall.  “We do seem to keep getting stuck together in the oddest places.  I don’t understand why my codes won’t open the hatches.  My clearance codes should open just about anything on the ship, unless they've been locked with Command Codes Only.”  A thought fluttered through his subconscious, but he couldn’t quite grasp it.

“Since we’re stuck here, can we talk about something?”  Kara had stripped off her BDU jacket and was using it as a cushion.

Lee nodded warily.  “Sure.  What’s up?”

“Um...your dad told me the other day that they were finally processing some of the personnel packets from the last update before the Cylons attacked, and there was something in there that surprised him.  Some of my paperwork from before Zak died had gotten waylaid and was in that last update.”

He quirked an eyebrow at her.

“There was a change in my next-of-kin designation, from my CO to Zak.”  She stared at her hands in her lap.

“Kara.  Look at me.”

She hesitated, looked up, then down again.

“Kara.”

This time she held his eyes.

“I know that you guys didn’t tell anybody else, but Zak did tell _me_ that he had married you.  Honestly, when things calmed down a bit after the initial attacks, I didn’t understand why everybody thought your last name was still Thrace, but I just figured maybe you didn’t want to change it.”

“Zak never asked me to change my name, and we never told anyone at the Academy. The only paperwork I ever filed with the Fleet was the next-of-kin change.”  The seam of her BDUs seemed fascinating.  “When your dad brought it up, he asked me if I wanted to change my name on official records.  I haven’t answered him yet.”

“Is it going to...”

The sound of the hatch opening interrupted him.

“What are you guys doing in here?  Did you get locked in again?”  Chief Tyrol laughed as he held the hatch open for them to exit.

*&*

Gods, Kara, stop wriggling!”  Frustration rang in Lee’s whisper.  

She stilled suddenly.  “Sorry, didn’t know I was bothering you.  Can’t sleep.”  She half sat up.  “Maybe I’ll just go take a shower.”

When she came back and crawled over Lee to get back into bed, his mostly-asleep brain wondered why her hair wasn’t wet.

*&*

Adama read the scrap of paper someone had slipped into his hand: _Locked in four times last week.  So far, nothing.  All they do is talk._

*&*

“All right, form up on me.”

“Hey, Apollo!  How about you fly **my** wing today!  I’m getting kinda tired of looking at your ass.”

“No way, Starbuck.  And you know you love looking at my ass.”

Snickers came from the other pilots flying CAP, and someone laughed, “We all love looking at your ass, Apollo!”

After a moment’s silence, Apollo came back all business.  “One time around the perimeter, then we’ll each take a quarter.  Fall in.”

*&*

Lee awoke to the sound of Kara’s harsh breathing.  “Kara?  You OK?”

“Shit!”  Her voice was a little ragged.  “Lee, just go back to sleep.”  

He closed his eyes again, but was still awake a few minutes later when he heard her moving again.  He put his hand out toward her.  “Are you doing what I think you’re doing?”

“Yes, Lee.  Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, I invite my right hand in for a frak.  Gods.  Why didn’t you just stay asleep?”  She was almost whining.

“Seriously?  You have a schedule for, for...”

“Masturbation?  You can say it, Lee.  You're a grownup.  And no!  For frak’s sake, of course I don’t have a schedule.  Do you?”

Not a peep from the other side of the bed.

“Oh, my gods.  You do!”  She cackled at him.

“Shhhh!  I do not.”

“Nuh-uh.  You can deny it all you want, but now I know.  Lee Adama schedules his wanking.”

“Shut up and finish, Kara, so we can go back to sleep.”

“You want me to...”

“What?  LIke I’ve never heard you doing it before?  You’re not exactly quiet most of the time.”

“Frak.”

She didn’t say anything else, and a minute or so later, her breathing broke up again, until with a tiny whimper, she slumped against him.  “Gods.  I needed that.”  She nuzzled into his arm sleepily.  “‘Night, Lee.”  Just like that, she was gone. It took him a little longer.

*&*

As Laura was reading and signing forms before her morning meeting with Billy, a small sheet fell out from between two others.   _No joy.  Should we get more aggressive?_  

“Billy?”

“Yes, ma’am?”

“Get the Commander on the phone for me, please.”

*&*

Kara’s back was unpleasantly cold, and the sensation dragged her abruptly out of a dream, one she’d been enjoying immensely.   _You are pitiful, Thrace.  You’re already so used to sleeping with Lee that it wakes you up when he leaves?  Snap out of it!_  She swung her legs over the edge of her rack and threw on some shorts for a run.  

*&*

_In re: our conversation yesterday.  I have an idea._

*&*

“You two will be posing as newlyweds on the _Oberon_ for two days.”

“Do we get to know why we’re posing as newlyweds?”  Kara looked at Lee.  

“It’s actually better if you don’t know anything.  We want all your responses, except for pretending to be newlyweds, to be genuine.”  Laura gestured to Bill.

“We do need to know that you can be convincing, so if you’ll give us a demonstration?”

Kara and Lee both had comically blank expressions, until Lee's morphed into mild horror.  “A demonstration?”  Lee asked cautiously.   "What kind of demonstration?"

Bill sighed.  “Generally, newly married couples can’t keep their hands off each other.  Can you two at least give us a believable kiss?”

Kara looked at Lee and shrugged.  She moved in close to him and put her arm around his waist.  She grinned at him and planted a kiss on him, all lips and no tongue.

Bill snorted.  “All that’s going to convince someone of is that you’ve been married long enough to not like each other anymore.  Maybe we should put this off until we can find someone else to work with Lee.”  

“All right!  Fine.”  Kara looked at Lee and narrowed her eyes infinitesimally.  He gave the barest nod in return.  She moved in closer still, raised a hand to his neck and pulled his lips into hers.  Just touches at first, like they were tasting each other, and then Lee shifted, pulling her completely into his space, and Kara stroked his jaw with her thumb.  Lee let out a little “huh” like he’d just figured something out, and then they were devouring each other.

Two or three minutes later, Laura cleared her throat.  Lee and Kara pulled apart and Kara turned around and asked, “Newlywed enough for you?” with just a little too much nonchalance in her voice. She was thankful no one could see her whitened knuckles against the back of Lee's neck.

The air in the room changed the tiniest bit and it was the President and the Commander looking at each other, and one of them said, “You’ll do.”

“When does this mission start?”

“Your Raptor leaves at zero six hundred.”

Lee and Kara nodded and Bill dismissed them.

Once she was sure the hatch was shut, Laura burst into undignified giggles.  “Oh, gods.  You weren’t kidding.  I’ve seen porn that wasn’t as hot as that!”  She sat abruptly on the couch.  “I think I need a minute.”

*&*

“So, Lee, is it your night for...” she motioned with her hand.

“Masturbation?  You can say it, Kara.  You're a grownup.”  He gave her a look to match his mocking tone.

“Whatever.  I was just gonna say, you know, if it is, I can roll over so you can take care of business.  I’d hate for you to miss a day, especially going into a mission.”

“I told you, I don’t schedule it.  Can we just go to sleep now?  Zero six-hundred is early, in case you don’t remember.”  He rolled toward her and scooped her tightly into him.

Kara pulled the blanket up and wiggled to get herself comfortable.  “Happy to see me, Captain?”

“Shut the frak up, Kara.”

“Hey, Lee?”

“What?”  He snapped it out.

“Gods!  Touchy much?  I don’t know what’s going on with your father and the President, but there’s something fishy about this mission.  I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there’s something not right.”

“I know.  Now, will you shut up and go to sleep, or will I have to gag you?”

 _Gag me?  Damn, Lee.  All these years and I didn’t know you were into the kinky stuff_.  She stifled a snicker and closed her eyes.  “Shutting up now.”

*&*

Kara woke up a few minutes before Lee, hot and sticky and cranky; vaguely-remembered erotic dreams had rendered her sleep fitful.   _Definitely a shower in my future.  Got some business of my own to take care of._  She tried to climb out of the bunk without waking Lee, but just as she got an arm and a knee on the outside edge of the bunk, Lee caught her around the waist and rolled her under him.

“What the frak, Lee?”

His sleepy voice replied, “Just practicing being a newlywed.  C’mere, wife.”  He nibbled at her neck and jaw until they were both a little too awake for her comfort.  

When Kara heard someone stirring outside their rack, she made a frantic break for the shower.   _Frak.  A few more minutes of that and I'd have been putty in his hands.  Definitely need that shower now._

*&*

“No, he clearly said ‘newlywed’ and then ‘something wife.’  When did Starbuck and Apollo get married?  And where’d they disappear to?  Are they on their honeymoon?”

He smiled that frakking know-it-all smile and said nothing.

“Fine.  I’ll find someone who knows and _will_ talk.”  

*&*

He couldn’t help but snicker as he wrote the note.   _They aren’t as quiet as they think they are behind that curtain.  Rumors spreading like wildfire._

*&* 

“Wow, Lee.  I think that bed is smaller than my rack.  No room there to keep to your schedule without disturbing my beauty sleep.”  She grinned cheekily at him.

“Gods, Kara.  Will you let up about the frakking schedule already?”  He shook his head and muttered, “Beauty sleep my ass.”

“You’re awfully grumpy.  Wanking would fix that.”

“Being married to you makes me permanently grumpy.  Personally, I think you’re a little too preoccupied with my...”

She cut him off.  “...wanking?”  

“I was gonna say my dick.”

“We’re newlyweds.  I’m supposed to be obsessed with that particular body part.  And it’s really not bad, as body parts go.”  She’d turned to unload her duffel into a drawer, so she missed the insulted expression on his face and him sneaking up behind her.  

“Not bad?  You take that back!”  He poked his fingers into her sides as she tried to evade him.  Unfortunately for her, Lee had watched more than once as Zak tickled her into helpless laughter, and he knew just where to get her.

Her infectious giggles rang through the tiny room and Lee couldn’t help but laugh himself.  “Stop, Lee!  I give!  OK?  It’s better than not bad.”  She tried to suck in a couple of deep breaths.  “It’s more like mildly impressive.”

“Mi..”  He renewed his efforts until she collapsed completely breathless onto the bed, dragging him with her.  It’d been way too long since he’d seen her wearing such a carefree expression.  He was laughing himself as he sat up on his knees and wormed his fingers up her sides closer to her armpits.  

“No!  Lee, oh gods, stop!  I can’t take any more!  Fine.  It's more than mildly impressive.”  She snaked a lecherous glance down his torso and said, “You’re a god among men, aptly named Apollo.”  She put a vapid coo into her voice.  “I’m sooooo lucky to be married to such a stud.  Is that what you wanted to hear?”  She grasped his wrists to still his hands - she hurt from laughing so hard.  

“Damn right you’re lucky.”  He managed to extricate himself from her sprawled limbs and get off the bed.  “You hungry?”

“Yes.  Gods.  Starving.”  She bounced off the bed and grabbed his hand.  As they crossed the few steps toward the door, she said, “Now remember.  You have to pretend to like me while we’re out there.”

“It may take all the acting skills I have, but I’ll manage somehow.”

*&*

They made their way back to the room with Kara groaning.  “That wasn’t a lot, but it’s more than I’m used to.  I need a nap now.”  She noticed their door was open and squeezed Lee’s hand in warning, then relaxed as they walked in.

“I’ll be done in just a couple of minutes.”  The housekeeper pointed to the overstuffed chair.  “I’ve already finished that side of the room.”

Lee sank into the chair and pulled Kara down into his lap.  She pulled her legs up, snuggled her head under his chin and when the housekeeper snuck a glance at them as she left the room a few minutes later, Kara was fast asleep with a smile on her face.

Just before she closed the door, she quietly asked, “You want me to turn down the sheets?”

Lee nodded and stood up.  “Thanks.”

*&*

He was bored.  He hadn’t thought to bring a book, and he couldn’t exactly go roaming the ship on his own to find something to do - they were supposedly newlyweds frakking themselves stupid.  Maybe Kara had packed a deck of cards.  He was rummaging through the duffel she hadn’t finished unpacking earlier and his finger caught on a piece of lace.  He pulled it out of the bag to look closer.   _Those...are not regulation.  And a matching bra?  Where did she get these?  Is she **trying** to kill me?  Please, Lords, don’t let her wear these while we’re here._  He shoved them back in the bag without looking any further.

*&*

Just as Kara began to stir from her nap, Lee heard a knock on the door.  Someone stood there holding a small basket of berries.  “Compliments of the Captain.  Congratulations.”

He closed the door and took the basket to the bed.  “Hey, Kara, we got fruit!”

“Gods, Lee, are those strawberries?  And what are those? I almost hate to eat them - you know these are some of the last ones ever.”  He moved to put the basket on the dresser, and she said, “Hey, I said almost.  Get those back over here, _husband_!”

It was a very small basket and the fruit was gone much too quickly.  At the bottom of the empty basket was a trio of nine-sided dice.  “We’ve managed to convince somebody that we’re newlyweds, because these dice are for, you know, drunk games with friends, or foreplay.”

Lee perked up unexpectedly at ‘foreplay’ and grabbed for the basket.  “Hey, we can do this!  I’ve already tickled you unto admitting that I’m the spitting image of Apollo.”  His mischievous grin widened even more.

“I never said you were the spitting image of Apollo.  Why would you want to be, anyway?  From all the sculpture, you’d better hope he’s a grower, ‘cause he’s not a shower.”  Kara dissolved into laughter both at herself and at the disgruntled look at Lee’s face.  “OK, so if you’ve already tickled me, it’s my turn, right?  You better roll them, so you can’t accuse me of cheating.”  

_Squeeze Neck 4_

“Are you sure you didn’t cheat, Apollo?  Maybe you should save that one for your turn.  You’re the one into gags and stuff.  I’d hate to start right off with something so hardcore.”

“I haven’t wanted to strangle you today.  Yet.  And who said I’m into gags, anyway?”  He shook his hand.  “But I’ll roll again if it makes you happy.”

_Suck Breast 3_

Kara laughed at that.  “OK, now we’re talkin’!  Let’s see some skin, Apollo!”

He stripped off his shirt as she straddled his lap.  She played like she was going to kiss him, and he kept evading, until she pushed him down to the pillows and hovered over him teasingly.  “Sucking, huh?  Like this?”  She lowered her head just enough to swipe roughly across a nipple.  “Or like this?”  The other nipple, and this time she was delicate but thorough, like she was savoring a frozen treat, complete with tantalizing sound effects.  “Or like this?”  Back again, and she widened her mouth a bit, sucking in as much of the pec surrounding his nipple as she could get, alternating between hard and soft.

Lee’s eyes fell closed and she smiled to herself.   _And we have a winner._  To distract herself from what she was doing, she counted, and when she reached one hundred eighty seconds, she sat up, pinched both nipples lightly and said, “Time’s up, Lee!  My turn!  Roll the dice!”

It took Lee a minute to wrap his head around the fact that Kara had just spent three minutes tonguing and sucking on his chest.  He opened his eyes to find her much farther away than he suddenly wanted her.  He shook the dice, blew on his hands, shook some more.

“Come on, Apollo!  Roll!”

_Kiss Navel 1_

“Good thing I’m married to you." She smirked at him.  "I don’t let just anybody kiss my bellybutton.”  She flopped back on a pillow with her arms behind her head.  Her shirt rode up, teasing him with glimpses of the skin he was supposed to kiss.

“I don’t know if I want to do this.  You might have lint.  When was the last time you took a shower?”  He grinned at her.

“You frakker!  Just for that, you don’t get to kiss my bellybutton.”   She pushed her shirt down and curled to her side away from him, hiding her own smile.

“Aw.  Come on, Kara.”  He leaned behind her and kissed her shoulder.

She shrugged him off.  “Nope.”

“What if I tell you there are more berries?  Can I kiss your bellybutton then?”  He traced little circles down her arm while he was talking.

She rolled back toward him so fast she nearly elbowed him in the eye.  “There are more berries?  How?  I saw the bottom of that basket - I’m the one who told you there were dice in it.”

“Welllll, you weren’t quite awake when they got here.  I saved some in a cup.  So?  Whaddaya say, Kara?”

“Lee Adama, if you’re not just frakkin’ with me and there really are more berries, you can kiss any damn thing of mine you want.”

Lee looked at her.  “Anything?”  His sly smile made her listen to what she’d just said.

Kara pretended she wasn’t blushing.  “Well, maybe no...”

“Nope.  You can’t take it back now.  You said it.  I heard you.”

“Fine!”  She fake-pouted at him.  “But berries first.  I don’t trust you.”

“I’m crushed.”

Lee popped a berry in his mouth as he brought the cup back.  Kara looked at the berries, and said, “OK,” but didn’t move to eat any of them.  At Lee’s questioning look, she told him, “I want to make them last.”

She laid back on the pillow again and teased, “So, what is it you want to kiss, Apollo?  My toes?  My fingers?  My nose?”

“Your knees.”

“Seriously?  My knees?  That seems sort of...boring.”  Her disappointment was clear.

Lee straddled her and leaned down until his mouth was almost touching her ear.  “You wanna know a secret?”  She nodded.  “I have an ulterior motive.”  She turned her head and her nose skimmed his cheek.  “For me to kiss your knees, I have to take your pants off.”

“Ohhhh.  I like this plan.”  She reached to unbutton her pants and push them down.  She framed her navel with her hands.  “See?  No lint.”

Lee moved in closer, pretending to examine her belly carefully.  “Hmmm.  Maybe I should kiss it after all.”

“I think you should.  You rolled the dice - it’s only fair.”  She sucked in a breath when his lips touched her skin.  “Mmm.  Nice.  More.”

“More?  Are we feeling greedy today?”  Lee’s tongue traced the edges of her navel, and Kara dissolved into giggles and moved away.

“Enough with the tickling, Lee!  And I am not greedy.”  She did her best to frown at him, but she kept laughing instead.  “Can we bank sleep?  ‘Cause I could take another nap already.”

Lee gaped at her.  “I think I’m insulted.  How’d we go from taking off your pants to taking a nap?”

“Aw.  Poor Lee.”  She patted his leg.  “I just can’t think when’s the next time we’re going to have two uninterrupted days to do anything that doesn’t involve shooting Cylons out of the sky on three hours of sleep.”  She pushed her pants farther down.  “Can your manhood survive me taking a nap if I take my pants off?  Will that make you happy?”

He grumbled.  ‘My manhood can survive just fine.  Don’t think I’m going to forget this, though.”

*&*

Kara sat straight up, her mind whirling.   _They wouldn’t.  Would they?  The Old Man and the President?  Me and Lee?_  She mulled the whole thing over while she showered and dressed.  She paced the tiny room for a while, nibbling berries and thinking.  Finally, she lost patience with waiting for Lee to wake up.   _He’s the one who didn’t want to take a nap.  Frakker._

She pounced on him.  “Lee!”

“Mrmph.”

“Wow, Lee.  You’re usually annoyingly chipper when you wake up.”

“Not awake.  Frak off.”

“Apollo!”  He sat up.

“Gods!  What, Kara?”

“I figured it out.”  

“Figured out what?”

“Here, have some berries.  They’re the last ones in the universe.  What’s wrong with this mission.”

“I don’t know what’s wrong with this mission.”

“Lords, Lee.  Why are you so dense?  I’m not asking.  I’m saying I figured out what’s off.”  She attempted to pull him off the bed.  “But obviously you need to wake up more.  Go take a shower, _husband_.”  

He got off the bed on his own, and as he passed her toward the head, she swatted his ass.  “Ow.  What the frak, Kara?  Never mind.  I’m really tempted to use that _Squeeze Neck 4_ thing right now, just so you know.”

She listened to Lee showering, eyeing the last few berries longingly, but decided she’d probably better keep them just in case she needed to soothe the feathers that were about to get ruffled. _He can be so emotional_.

*&*

 _Progress negative.  They sleep.  A lot._  

Bill considered whether perhaps Lee was not his son, after all.   _What is he waiting for?_

*&* 

Kara sprawled in the chair on the other side of the bed and watched Lee parade around the confined space in a towel not getting dressed.   _Now that the thought is in my head...well._

Lee spotted Kara looking and chided her.  “No staring in the head.  Rule one of living on a Battlestar, remember?”

“Well, Lee, you’re not in the head.  At the moment, you’re not on a battlestar, either.  I’m supposed to be pretending to be your wife, and I’m thinking your wife would peek, because surely you've noticed that you look damn good in a towel.”

Lee flushed and his towel twitched.  Kara did not fail to take note.

“Anyway.  Back to the subject at hand.”   _Oh, my gods.  Did I seriously just say that?  I’d like for that subject to be at hand and frak stop thinking about that!_  She shook her head to clear the disturbingly appealing images.  “The mission is a total fake.”

“A..whahuh?”

 _Lords, he’s adorable when he’s confused.  How have I not noticed this?  Thrace!  Keep your eye on the ball._  “Yep.  There is no mission.  They sent us over here for two days to pretend to be frakking like bunnies, hoping that by the time we got back to Galactica, we actually would be.  Frakking like bunnies.”  She made an obscene gesture with her hand.

“That seems...unlikely.  My father?  And the President?  Trying to get us laid?  What for?”

 _What for?  Has it been that long, Lee?_  “Getting laid’s not the point. _Yes, it is._  Think about it, Lee.  Mysterious bunkroom refits.  “Assigned” bunkmates.  Getting locked in supply closets and arms lockers.  Getting sent on a mission with “Act like newlyweds.” the only briefing.  And requiring us to show that we could act like we were all over each other?” 

“My codes never worked when we got locked in.”  He smacked his forehead.  “That’s what kept nudging me.  The only codes that can lock mine out have to be issued by my dad.”

“Your father and the President of the Twelve Colonies are matchmaking, Lee.  And they have help.”

“Wait.  They have help?  How do you figure?”  Lee ruffled his fingers through his hair.

“First, the President isn’t always on Galactica.  She’s the frakking President, and she’s busy.  Which makes this whole thing completely bizarre, but...anyway.  Your father can’t be everywhere.  He's the Commander of a Colonial Battlestar. Every time we got locked in together, someone would have had to enter a code that locked yours out.  I’m betting Tyrol’s involved, because two of those times were on the flight deck, and he’s the one who let us out.  Laughing his ass off, if you’ll recall.  And I don’t know if you noticed, but the bunk assignments are all people who already get along with each other.  Including a couple of well, couples.  Your dad would not know that unless someone gave him the information.  I haven’t figured out who the mole is.” 

“How did you come up with this anyway, Kara?”

“I was dreaming about...something, and it all just clicked into place.  It all still made sense once I was awake.  It’s the only possible explanation.”  She looked at his ass in that towel.  “And will you please put some clothes on!?”

Since he had his back to her, she missed his secretive grin.   _Something?_   “Aw, Kara.  Am I distracting you?

“Nope.”

He turned back toward her.  “Are you sure?  I’d hate for you to lose sight of the mission because you couldn’t keep your mind clear.”

Kara made herself hold his eyes.  “I think we need to redefine the mission.  Since we’re obviously not frakking like bunnies.”   _But gods, now that I’ve thought about it, I really want to be_.  “We need to decide what we’re going to do about this.”

 _Okay.  Slow the tease down, Lee._  “You have suggestions?”  He pulled on briefs and dropped the towel.

 _Frak.  Get your mind straight, Thrace.  Focus!_  “Choices are pretty clear.  They want us frakking.  They want us together.  Us, Lee.  Me and you.  Lee Adama and Kara Thrace.  So we do what they want or we don’t.”

“That simple?”

“Not simple.  ‘Cause if we don’t do what they want, they’re going to keep trying.  We’ll end up marooned in a Raptor somewhere together by “accident” or something, and you’ll finally have no choice but to succumb to my charms.”  She smirked as he opened his mouth and then decided not to speak after all.  “And if we do, then we gotta figure out if we want them to know or we want to keep them in the dark.”

Lee hung the towel on the hook by the head and sat on the foot of the bed.  “So, not decisions to be made lightly.”

 _Thank gods.  I thought he’d never finish getting dressed._  “I vote for food and then sleeping on it.  We’ve still got another day here, so we’ve got all day tomorrow to fight about it.  Did your dad tell you what time we were supposed to go back?”

*&*

When they got back from dinner, Kara very casually stripped down until she was in her undergarments.  Lee came out of the head and had to sit down.   _That.  Is proof there are gods.  Or proof there are not.  I’m pretty sure I asked please don’t let her wear those here, but has anybody ever looked sexier in black lace?  Godsdamn.  If this works, I am_ never _telling my dad he was right.  If this works._ He mentally smacked himself. _Who am I kidding?  I haven’t been able to think about anything else since I listened to her getting herself off a couple of weeks ago.  I’m_ still _not telling him he’s right._

Kara’s voice startled him.  “Problem, Captain?”

“What?  Oh.  No, just thinking about something.”

“Must be something serious, to make you sit down all of a sudden that way.”   _He’s not looking at me.  He needs to look at me.  I’m not wearing this for my health._  She walked over to stand in front of him.  “You sure you’re okay, Lee?”  She reached out a hand to his forehead.  “You’re not coming down with something are you?”

 _Coming down?  Down is not the word I’d use for it._  “I’m fine, Kara.  Just...”

“Just what, Lee?”   _Well, the Old Man would say to roll the hard six._  “Just can’t stand to look at your best pilot in her underwear all of a sudden?”

“What?  Come on, Kara.  I’ve seen you in your underwear hundreds of times.  Even before _Galactica_.  Neither you nor Zak were exactly prudes when it came to bare skin.  I’ve never seen you in this particular _kind_ of underwear before....”

She put her hands low on her hips and spread her fingers inward, drawing his gaze to her flat belly.  “You don’t like black lace on me?”  She moved to run a finger across the top of her bra.  “I have to admit, it’s a little scratchy sometimes.  Makes my boobs itch.”   _Well, you looked up for that, didn’t you?_  

“You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”  His eyes flicked to hers then followed her finger back and forth.

Her smile spread across her face.  “Wearing black lace?  Or talking about my boobs?”

He stood up.  As he stepped into her space, she backed into the wall beside the bed.  He wasn’t quite touching her, but he might as well have been. _Feels like my skin’s on fire.  Is this just because the Old Man and the President put this idea in my head?_

“Both.  Either.”

Kara looked down between them, then back up, her eyes lit with laughter.  “ I’m open to suggestions, husband.  Is there...something else you’d rather be talking about than my boobs?”

“Nothing in particular.  But there’s only so much conversation one can have about a pair of breasts, no matter how fantastic they are.”

Her smile widened.  “You think my boobs are fantastic?”

He leaned in much closer and growled in her ear.  “They might be the best breasts I’ve seen in a very long while.  You’re lucky I’m a gentleman, Kara.”

She stuck out her lower lip.  “Spoilsport.”   _ **That** didn’t work the way I wanted it to.  What is he waiting for?  An engraved invitation?_  She snorted.  

**_Starbuck requests the pleasure of Apollo’s company up against the wall.  Right frakkin’ now.  Underwear strongly discouraged._  **

She wanted to shriek in frustration.  No one else resisted her like this.

*&*

They settled in to sleep, lying there spooned together for an hour before Lee sighed, gusting warm breath on Kara’s neck.  She turned under Lee’s arm until she was facing him.  “Can’t sleep, huh?  Are you off your schedule?”  She managed to keep the smile from her face, but her voice betrayed her.

“And if I am?  What am I supposed to do, just whip it out and take care of that right now?”  His hand teased up and down her back.  

 _Oh, gods, stop, Lee.  I’m going to start humping your leg in a minute._  “It’s dark. I wouldn’t see anything.”   _It’s not really that dark, but..._

“You’re serious, aren’t you?”  His hand stopped, right on the edge between her back and her ass.

 _Frak. I didn’t mean for you to stop there.  A little lower, please._  “I did it for you.   _Oh. I **did** do that, didn't I?_  Besides, you think no wife has ever listened to her husband jerk off before, Lee?”

“You’re not my wife, remember?  Not really.”

“Would you like me to be?”   _Shit.  Did I really just say that out loud?  What the frak is wrong with me, thinking about this?  Seriously.  When I’m committed to the Fleet’s psych ward, I am blaming the Old Man for it._

“Kara?”

“Kidding, Lee.  I was kidding!”  She rolled back over, breathing deeply to control the panic.   _Ohgodsohgodsohgods.  I’m an idiot._

Lee waited until Kara finally fell asleep to answer, “Yes.”  

*&*

Kara was having the most marvelously erotic dream.  She was wrapped around Lee, whose calloused fingers were tracing lines of fire over her hip and inner thigh.  His lips were setting off sparks everywhere they touched as they moved toward hers.  He teased his open mouth along her jaw, then nipped her chin, eliciting a surprised moan.  "Lee," she breathed out.  Then finally, he was kissing her.  Sucking at her bottom lip, flicking at her with his tongue, teasing her until she wanted to beg, because everything he did to her mouth just made her hotter and wetter and _“Ohhhhh, right there.  Yes.  Harder, Lee.  Just... right.... yes... Wha?_  She squeaked when she woke up.  His hand really was there, but he’d stopped moving it.  She pulled at his hair.  

“Ow!  Kara!”

“I swear to the gods, Lee, if you stop right now, I’m going to kill you, and considering where your hand is, I really don’t want to do that.  I’d have to explain to your father how I left with a fake husband and came back with his son’s body.”

“That would suck.”   _Oh, yeah.  Sucking would be good._  

“Less talking.  More doing.  Threat of imminent death.”

“Like this?”  He feathered his fingers around the outside, pushed two in, slowly, teasingly.  Rubbed until she moaned her agreement.   _I have to still be asleep.  It’s not this easy.  Can’t be.  And since I’m still asleep..._

“What about this?  I could do this instead...”  He pulled his fingers out, spread the wet around, played his thumb and fingers on her clit - squeezing, circling, little caresses, tapping - and Kara was getting louder and panting breaths out, squirming to get more pressure or closer or _something_.

“Both.  I want both.   _Please, Lee_.”  One free hand pushed on Lee’s shoulder so she was higher on the bed, her leg tighter around his hip, and the other hand pulled at his ear until his mouth was inches away from the tank top she’d put on for sleep.

 _Speaking of sucking._  With the way Kara was writhing against him, it was difficult for him to get the right angle, but at the first touch of his cheek on her shirt, she stilled.  “Your shirt.  Move it, Kara.”

Kara seemed almost to be in a trance, so slowly did her hand move.  It drifted down his shoulder, his bicep, to where his arm lay across her belly, then up across her torso, dragging her tank with it.  If Lee had ever been more turned on in his life, he couldn’t remember when it was.  

He lowered his head and ran the tip of his nose over her skin, breathing in the scent of Kara Thrace.  When his stubbly cheek grazed her nipple, her _“Ohhh”_ was short and surprised.  He kept his fingers busy below, and found her thumb with his teeth.  He bit down just the slightest bit, sucked it into his mouth, got it thoroughly wet, then pulled away.  He traced from her thumb around the underside of her breast with his tongue.  “Leeeee.  Quit teasing me.”  He grinned at that and started sucking in bits of her breast, closer and closer.  When he closed his mouth over her nipple, she cried out.  The hand she’d been using to hold the shirt out of the way clamped around the back of his head, holding him in place.

His fingers and his thumb and his mouth on her breast had Kara tumbling into her orgasm moments later.   _Making her come might be in my top five greatest accomplishments ever.  Too bad I’m dreaming.   ‘Course, if I’m dreaming...._

Kara held Lee against her breast for another moment, her heart pounding into her ribs.  She nearly laughed out loud when she heard Lee whisper, “This is the best dream ever.”  She pulled his mouth up to hers and kissed him, hard and fast.  

“Mmm.  Thank you.  Saved yourself from death at the hands of Starbuck.”  She moved her thigh lazily back and forth on Lee’s hip as he pushed against her, seeking relief.  “You seem a little hard up there, Lee.”  

He groaned at the idiotic pun and she snickered.  Predictably, he asked, “You gonna do something about it?”

“No.  But you are.”  

“No.  This is my dream.  You do it.”

“Hate to burst your bubble, Apollo, but you’re not dreaming.”  To illustrate her point, she reached over and pinched him.

“Ow!  What’d you do that for?”

“You didn’t believe you were awake.  What else was I supposed to do?”

Lee gave her a look.

“Well, yeah, I _could_ have done that.  But I want you to do it.  I want to watch you do it.”

“I know we teased about it earlier, but I don’t know if I can actually do that with you watching.”

“Yes, you can.  Just stop thinking about it.”  She moved the hand he had between her legs and cupped him with it.  “See?  You’re ready.”  She pulled his head closer to hers so she could whisper toward him.  “I’m lying here, my tank rucked up above my bare breasts, skin against yours, and I'm all hot and wet and satisfied...you did that, Lee.”  She drew back so she could look him in the eyes.  “Now, put your hand in your shorts, Lee.  Yeah.  There.  Feel that?  That’s me on your hand.”  

Lee closed his eyes and groaned.  “Frak, Kara.”

“Open your eyes, Lee.  I want to see you when you do this.  I want to watch your face when you come.”

Kara’s voice saying that was almost enough in itself. _This might be the shortest jerk in history.  Won’t she be impressed?_

*&*

“So, we’re gonna do this?  See where this goes?  Are we seeing other people?”   _Like that frakkin’ Dualla?_  Kara was packing what little she’d unpacked back into the duffel.

Lee was suddenly at her back, his hand tight on her arms.  “We’d better not be.”  He stepped back a step.  Less certainly he asked, “Do you _want_ to be with somebody else?”

Kara bit her lip and shook her head.  “No. But I should warn you, Lee.  I’m high maintenance.”  

He snorted.  “Like I don’t know that already.”

“I’m serious.  If this is going to work, we’d better get with the frakking soon.  Otherwise, I’ll be beating you up in the gym a _lot_ more.”

He laughed out loud and she turned around to stare at him.  “The idea of me beating on you a lot is funny, Adama?”

“No.  But it _is_ pretty amusing that you think you can.”  He was still laughing.

She smacked him on the shoulder. “I could _so_ take you.”

“You could try.  We should schedule some sessions.  I’d bet people would pay to see you try to beat me up.”

She snickered.  “They’d pay to see me do something to you.  And beating might be part of it, but I think you have the wrong preposition.”

Lee looked at her, puzzled.  

“What, you don’t know what a preposition is?”

“Oh, I know.  I just didn’t think you did.”  

 _Frakker._  “You didn’t think I knew poetry, either.  Guess you’ve got a lot to learn about me.”

*&*

“We’ll have to be subtle about it.  Pretend to be stealthy.  People won’t spread it around if we’re just all matter-of-fact about frakking each other.  Maybe some not being as quiet as you think you are in the bunk after lights out.  Pulling each other around corners for a quick makeout.  Being “embarrassed” when we’re caught together.  Think we can pull it off?”

“Of course we can,” she scoffed.  “It has to start when the Raptor lands.  We’re going to be walking off the Raptor from two days away together.  No one but your dad and Roslin know it was a mission, and they don’t know _we_ know it was a fakeout.  So we’re all happy and rested and pleasantly frakked-out.  Our hands fall apart as soon as the door gets high enough.  Your touch is lingering just the tiniest bit too long as we walk across the deck to the stairs, and we smile every time we look at each other.  Maybe you go to kiss me, then remember that you can’t because everyone’s watching.  I guarantee you if Chief is on deck, it’ll be across the entire fleet in less than an hour.”

“You think?”

“I know. Chief is the biggest gossip I have ever met.  I’ll bet you your dad will call you to his office before noon.”

“Before noon?  No way.”

“Before noon, Lee.”

“What are we betting?”

“One spectacularly public PDA.  Winner’s choice of place and time.  No restrictions except not in front of Roslin or your father.  Or Tigh.  Anybody else we can still convince your dad it’s just bored crew gossiping because they saw us come back together.  Oh, and no public nudity.  We couldn’t talk our way out of that."

*&*

 _Guess I underestimated the Galactica grapevine.  Kara wins this one._  “Dad, that’s ridiculous.  You know how pilots love to gossip, and Kara and I have always been a favorite topic for the rumor mill.  I mean, really, dad, me and Kara, kissing on the flight deck?  Punching is far more likely.”  He laughed out loud.   _I cannot wait to tell Kara about the expression on his face.  Poor Dad._

Adama nodded.  “Very well.  We’ll debrief at 1500.”

*&*

_I've confronted him about the rumors.  He swears they're not involved.  This is disappointing._

*&*

Lee was sitting against the wall in the rack, Kara’s knee in his lap, rubbing the muscles around the knee to relieve the soreness.  Kara was groaning softly in relief and Lee grinned at her.  “You’re not making quite enough noise,” he whispered.  “We’re trying to start rumors here, remember?”

A low moan.  “Gods, Lee.  So good.”  A little louder.  “Ohhhh.  Where’d you learn _that_?”  Louder yet.  “Frak, Lee.  Oh, yeeeaaah.  A little....higher.  Right.  There.   _Please_ don’t stop!”

Outside the curtain, there was dead silence followed by nervous titters and a “Way to go, Apollo!”

Kara waited a beat before pulling aside the curtain in mock-irritation. “I don’t know what you nasty frakkers are thinking, but he’s massaging my knee.  I had a long CAP today.  Don’t you people have anything better to do?”  She pulled the curtain back across the rack, and she and Lee tried desperately to stifle the laughter threatening to escape.

*&*

Adama read the first report he’d gotten since Lee and Kara had returned from the Oberon.   _He was “giving her a massage” in their rack last night.  They both had their clothes on until she pulled the curtain across.   Didn’t sound like any massage I’ve ever gotten._

*&*

Helo had dropped his pen in the Ready Room during morning briefing, and when he went back to get it, he heard Kara’s voice, and he stopped in the vestibule between the main corridor and the Ready Room.  He’d only ever heard that timbre in her voice when she was frakking someone.   _Well, frakking me_.  He peeked his head around the corner - Apollo was leaning casually against the wall, and Kara had her arms resting on his shoulders, her fingers playing with his hair.  

From this distance, their low murmurs were indistinguishable, but as he watched, Apollo leaned forward and touched his lips to Kara’s.  He pulled back and grinned at her.  “...buying it?”  He’d gotten loud enough for Helo to hear that, but he had no idea what it meant.  Kara leaned in to Apollo and he couldn’t tell if she was kissing his neck or whispering in his ear.  He decided it must’ve been kissing when Apollo picked Kara up and turned them both around so she was up against the wall now, her legs around his waist.  She closed her eyes and let out a long, quavering sigh when Apollo palmed a breast through her tanks.

Helo backed out and decided he could come back for his pen later.  Right now, he had a message to send to the Old Man.

*&*

There was a message from Bill in the afternoon packet.

 _They were making out hot and heavy in the Ready Room this morning when they thought everyone had left_.

A tiny smile flirted around the edges of Roslin’s mouth.   _Yes!  Maybe that little subterfuge with the Oberon worked after all._

*&*

“Are you ready, Lee?”

“Ready?”

“To pay up on the bet.”

“Today, huh?”

“Today.  Grand performance.  You ready to really get those rumors going?”

Lee walked her backward into her locker.   “I think you’ll find...”  Little puffs of breath that are not quite kisses landed behind and under her ear.  “...Kara Thrace, that I’m ready for anything you want to throw at me.”

Kara hovered her mouth around Lee’s jaw, almost but never landing her lips on him.  “Is that so?  Anything?”   _I wish..._ She stopped herself before she could finish that thought.  She needed to stop getting distracted by things she would never get from Lee.  He might be willing to “date” her (if pretend-frakking in public and actually frakking in private could be considered “dating”), and more than willing to play this game with her, but it was mostly something to fake out his father and the President, and she needed to keep that in mind.   _He's never really going to be mine.  Would never want to be mine_.

*&*

Kara landed hard on Lee.  She pushed herself up on her hands, her feet between Lee’s knees.  She blinked at him, as if to say, _And, action!_ and he blinked back _Ready_.  She leaned down and planted a quick kiss on his lips, then drew back just as quickly.  Lee reached up, put a fist in her hair and pulled her mouth back down.  Kara got into the kiss and flattened her bottom half into Lee, rubbing slightly until he moaned under his breath.

The room filled with hoots and cheers.  One of Lee’s hands went to Kara’s ass, and she deepened the kiss again.   _Gods, I have to stop or I’ll be breaking my own no-public-nudity edict_.  She pulled her mouth away and put her forehead on his chest, where she could feel his heart beating as hard as hers was.   _I think maybe I’m not playing anymore.  We didn’t agree to real feelings.  Frak!  He can’t find out._

She pulled herself away and to her feet, then offered Lee a hand.   Without missing a beat, they both went back to sparring, demonstrating basic moves for the crewmembers watching.  Anybody who’d missed that minute and a half didn’t believe what the others told them, but it didn’t stop them from spreading it across the ship in record time.

*&*

“You looked pretty cozy up against the wall in the Ready Room yesterday, Kara.”  

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Helo.”   _It’s Helo?  That’s how the Old Man found out?  Oh, this means war, my fine friend_.

“You can’t fool me, Kara.  Remember, I know what you look like when you’re, uh, enjoying a gentleman’s attentions.  You were not faking it.  Besides, anybody could have walked into the Ready Room, so I know you weren’t putting on a show just for me.

Kara cackled at Karl.  “Gentleman’s attentions?  Oh, Gods, Helo!  What century are you in?”   _I can arrange a special show just for you_.  Kara kept the evil grin off her face, but her inner self was plotting and smiling from ear to ear.

*&*

“Karl saw us in the Ready Room yesterday.  He’s the one who’s been reporting to your father.”

“Karl?”

Kara sputtered impatiently.  “Helo!”

“Ah, Helo.  Really?”  He thought that over.  “I assume you want to pay him back somehow?  Something juicy?”

“You read my mind, Apollo.  Plan something good.”

“Me?  You’re the one who thinks outside the box.  My plans are boring, remember?”

*&*

Kara showed up in the mess a couple days after learning that Karl was Adama’s mole. She got her tray and slid in next to Karl on the bench, giving the rook on the other side of him a go-to-hell look that made him retreat pretty quickly.

Kara just ate quietly for a couple of minutes, then out of the blue, “So, Helo, how’s your love life?  Getting any lately?”

Karl nearly choked on the bite of whatever crap they were serving.  “My love life?  I’m almost afraid to ask why you’re interested in whether or not I’m getting laid.”

“We’re buddies, Helo, we go way back.  You’ve had a practically permanent frown lately.  I can only imagine it’s because your girlfriend’s in the brig.  You're my hero.  You saved my life on Caprica.  I could return the favor.  I’m sure you remember that you **always** left satisfied.”  She caught a rook’s wide-eyed look and winked at him.   _Aww.  Is he blushing?  I didn’t know there was anybody left alive who still blushed_.  

“What I remember, Kara, is that I always left bruised.  Satisfied, yes, but you left bruises that lasted for weeks.”

“Aw, Helo, was I too hard on you at the Academy?  I’m sorry.”  She chuckled and tried to put a little vamp in her voice.  “I could always...”  She walked her fingers up his bare arm to where his tanks covered his shoulders.  “...make it up to you.  I’ve learned a few things since then.  I could let you be on top...”

A passing rook dropped his tray, to the vast amusement of the entire mess, though not everyone heard what had caused his sudden lack of coordination.

Lee slid onto the bench on the other side.  “Did I just hear you offer to let Helo be on top?”  He turned to look at Helo.  “I bet you’d make a great top.  Kara does love a big, strapping man taking charge in the sack.”  

Karl dropped his fork and looked from one to the other.  “Now I _know_ there’s something you want.”  He looked at Kara.  ” _Let_ me be on top?  Really?  I never had a problem being on top with you if I wanted it.”  He turned to Lee.  “Big, strapping man?  Since when do you roll out compliments to men on their physiques?”

Lee and Kara both scooted just a bit closer to Helo on the bench.  They got close enough to make it obvious to everyone watching, but not quite close enough to touch him.  Lee leaned slightly closer, looked past Karl at Kara and asked, “Kara and I were wondering...”

“..yeah, Helo, we were wondering if you’d like to join us after evening mess.  We’re planning a little **_entertainment_**.”  Her emphasis made it clear to anyone within hearing distance exactly what kind of entertainment it would be.  She’d also projected her voice in such a way that probably more than half the mess heard her.  “You don’t have to answer us now.  I’ll see you in the bunkroom later, and we can go together.”

*&*

“Mmm.  Karl, is that what you’re wearing tonight?  I have to admit, sweatpants are classic - easy off.  And just one tank.  Nice choice.”  She walked up behind him and palmed both sides of his ass.  “I think you were working out while you were stuck on Caprica!  You always had a nice ass before, Karl, but now...”

“You done feeling me up, Kara?”  Karl turned so his ass was safely up against the locker.

“Oh, not nearly done, but I can do the rest -” she made a show of looking around at the avidly curious pilots, “-privately, in the CAG’s quarters.  At our little - party.”  She made herself giggle a little.  “It’s going to be so much fun to play with you again!”

Karl didn’t figure there was much point in protesting.  No one would believe him turning down Kara anyway.  Besides, she always eventually left him a way to get her back, and it would be all the more satisfying for the delay.

*&*

Kara got herself in the right frame of mind, and injected just the right note of satisfaction and sultriness into her voice before speaking into the mic.  “Helo?  I just wanted to say again how _magnificent_ you were last night.  The three of us will definitely have to do that again sometime.”  

Helo blushed in his flight suit and thanked the gods that he was in the ECO seat and no one could see him.  He also thanked the gods for sisters who had prepared him for mortifying moments like this.  “I do appreciate the compliment, Starbuck.  You were all right, too.  I have to say I was much more impressed with Apollo, though.  Lords, that thing he does with his tongue?”  A little grunt-moan came over the air.  “Damn.”   _Take that, Kara Thrace.  I didn’t have to wait long at all to get you back this time._

There was dead silence for about twelve seconds while everyone listening digested that and frantically decided who would be the first person they told as soon as they landed back on Galactica.

Apollo, bless his heart, played along perfectly when he broke wireless silence.  “I don’t like to leave Kara out....but....she could just watch next time.  We’d probably have to tie her to a chair to keep her from interfering.”  There were choking sounds over the wireless from somewhere.

And to prevent this from going any further over the radio, he continued, “Now, let’s get back to CAP and work out our social lives later.  Form up!"

*&*

“Madame President?”

“Yes, Billy?”

“That project you’re working on with the Commander?  The secret one?”  He looked at her intensely.

Laura’s eyes lit up.  “Oh. Yes.  The project!  Has there been something to report?”

“Well, were you listening to any of the CAPs today?”

“Oh.  I meant to.  It’s always so interesting, listening to the pilots talk to each other.  The meeting with the Quorum member from Libran ran long, though, and it seems like I’ve been running from one thing to the next ever since.”

He handed her a tape.  “There was an exchange earlier today that you might like to share with the Commander.  Privately?”

“Oh, really?  That sounds intriguing, Billy.”

“I believe you’ll both find it illuminating.”

“Thank you, Billy.  I’m so glad you’re here to look out for my interests in this.  If you could get with Dee and arrange a free hour for both of us?”

*&*

“I’ll admit it sounds like something could be going on.  But Starbuck and Apollo never speak to each other.  Did you notice that?  It actually sounds more like some kind of Viper/Raptor one-upsmanship.  The competition between the two groups can be brutal.”

“Really?  Bill, I was so sure this was a breakthrough in our little project.  How disappointing.  Should we try something new, or leave it alone for a few days?”

“I’m inclined to leave it alone for a little while.  This hasn’t worked out at all like I’d imagined.  I think we need to retreat and regroup.  Come up with a new action plan.  I’ll ask for updates from our - informants.”

*&*

Lee’s hands on her were driving her crazy.   _What’s up with that?  He’s touching my elbows, for frak’s sake.  Put your hands someplace good, Lee._

As if he heard her, he leaned to one side and barely skimmed a palm under her shirt, teasing the undersides of her breasts with his fingers.  “I love you.”  He breathed it in her ear as he kissed up her jaw to the spot behind her ear, where he sucked lightly until she let out a tiny moan.

Kara froze for a split second.   _There’s that wishful thinking, again, Thrace.  You need to stop hearing things he’ll never say_.  She kissed him, telling him everything she could never say out loud, would not let herself say out loud, and pretended everything was fine.

When she broke away, she gasped into his ear, “It’s your turn to moan, Lee.  I’m doing wicked things to you with my tongue.”

He grinned and started panting.  He got louder in little increments.   _Damn, Lee.  It’s almost like you’ve had some practice at fake making out.  We’re going to have to have a talk about that._  

She looked down at her hand at his hip and mimed something with her tongue.  “Oh.  Gods, Kara!  Please.”

_Well, not much chance we’ll be able to convince anybody they misinterpreted that.  And now I’m horny and want to hear him say that for real._

*&*

After another long day and a brief though noisy make-out for the benefit of those outside the curtain, Kara unexpectedly snuggled in to Lee’s side as she started to fall asleep. _I am not looking a gift horse in the mouth._  He turned on his side to hold her tighter.  Just as she went under, she slurred, “Love you.”

His heart jumped, but then doubt settled in.  He lay awake for nearly an hour hoping she’d been talking to him, hoping she’d meant it the way he did.  He wondered if she’d meant to say it louder, for the rest of the bunkroom to hear her, if it was part of the game.   _I love you, too._

*&*

“I wish you would stop saying that.  I know you don’t mean it, and - it bothers me.”  Kara turned away to hide the hurt she knew was on her face.  Lee Adama was pretending to frak her, pretending not to frak her, and actually frakking her, though not often enough to suit her.  All that fake making out still got her hot and bothered. _I am so godsdamned confused_.

Lee huffed out an exasperated breath.  “What bothers you more, Kara, thinking I’m pretending, or wishing I wasn’t?”

Across the room, Kara froze with her back to him, and he realized he’d accidentally hit on the truth.   _She wants me to love her.   And I do, but she thinks I don’t.  How am I supposed to convince her?_

“And who says I don’t mean it?”

“Lee, come on!  We agreed to deny being in a relationship to mess with the Old Man and the President, pretend-frakking all over the place for everyone else, and in the middle of all that, exploring for ourselves whether or not we even want to be together.  There was nothing in there about feelings.  You don’t have to pretend to love me.”

He walked over, put his hands on either side of her face and made her look at him.  “I repeat.  Who says I’m pretending?”

“Of course you’re pretending!  None of this is real.  It’s all, every bit of it, to tease someone else.  It’s not about us.  Not really.”  She wrenched herself free of him and backed away.

“When you finally figure out that you want it to be about us, you be sure to let me know, Kara.”

She stared at the door through which he’d disappeared.   _What the hell does that mean?  He wants it to be about us?  He thinks I want it to be about us?  He wants to have something to hold over me, because he’s, he’s, oh frak!  I’m so frakking confused._

*&*

She chased him down in the gym.  “What did you mean by that?”

He kept lifting and lowering the weights, finishing his reps, and waved off his spotter when he was done.

“What did I mean by what, Kara?”

“When I figure out that I want it to be about us.”

Lee sighed.  “What part of that is difficult to understand, Kara?  When you decide that you want there to be an us, a real us, not just the one we’ve created for all the spies, you let me know.  Isn’t that part of what we’re doing here, figuring out if we want a relationship, or if it was just something that suddenly seemed attractive because we were being manipulated into it?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, then.  So, you’ll let me know.”

“Yes.”

Lee picked up the towel and threw it around his neck, starting to walk toward the hatch.

“That’s it?  I say yes, and you’re just gonna walk off?  I’ve changed my mind.”  

She pushed around him and was almost to the hatch when she was pushed front-first into the wall, Lee’s hard, sweaty body pressing against her.  “You were saying yes to us?”  She nodded.  

Lee flipped her around and searched her eyes.  “You’re sure?”  She nodded again.

The corner of Lee’s mouth quirked.  “I think I like this nodding thing.”

“Don’t get used to it, jackass.  Are you going to kiss me sometime today?”

“But nobody’s here to watch.”

“Fine.”  She pushed him away, grabbed his hand and pulled him through the hatch into the busy corridor.  “Now, there are people to watch.”  She looked at him with some weird combination of defiance and fear.

“Yes, there are.”  He yanked her up against him and lowered his mouth.  “You sure about this?  We might not be able to explain it away.”

“I don’t care.  You’re the one who apparently needs an audience to perform.  Perform already.”

Lee got this glimmer in his eyes and he bent and threw her over his shoulder, pushing through the crowd toward crew quarters.  

“Lee Adama, put me down!  You are so gonna regret this!”  Lee smiled at everybody as he passed them, and hoped they would all write it off as typical Starbuck and Apollo horsing around.   _Maybe I should actually be hoping they think it’s exactly what it is.  We’re trying to spread rumors, after all._  

He kicked the hatch shut with his foot, swung the wheel until it clicked, and lowered Kara to her feet.

“What was that about, Lee?”

He reached forward and tugged her tanks up over her head.  “I...”

She backed up a step.

He pulled her back and pushed her sports bra up and off.  “...do not...”

When she tried backing up this time, his fingers were already in the waist of her sweats.  “...need...”

He pushed her backward toward the door between his office and his sleeping quarters.  “...an audience...”

He knelt, pulled off both shoes and tossed them over his shoulder, then finished taking her sweats and panties off before standing up.  “...to perform, Kara Thrace.”

“Frak me,” she breathed.

He pointed his finger at the rack.  “Lie down.  ‘Cause that’s exactly what I intend to do.”

*&*

_Godsdamn.  When did he get so bossy in the bedroom?  And why do I like it?_

Lee took his time, still standing almost at the door to his office.  Even though the hatch was dogged, he decided to close the door, too.  He looked at Kara, lying there in his rack, already breathing hard, and he smiled.  He took a step forward, pulled off his tanks.  Another step and he toed off his shoes and bent to pull his socks off.  Another step and he pushed his sweats below his hips, watching her eyes as he teased the waist back and forth.  He pushed them just a tiny bit farther, and she licked her lips.  “You want me to take them off, Kara, or do you want to?”

It took her a moment to drag her attention from his groin to his words, but when she did, her answer was typical Kara.  “As long as I get the present, I don’t care who unwraps it.”

He pushed them all the way down and kicked them away.  He didn’t miss the disappointment in her eyes when he left his boxer briefs on.  “I thought I’d unwrap part of it and leave part of it for you.”

“Gods, Lee.  You are a worlds-class tease.  Get your ass in this rack.”

He sat on the edge and leaned toward her at the same time she reached up and dragged his mouth to hers.  He pulled back and grinned, “Reporting for duty, sir.”

“You are so cheesy.  Do I have to do everything?  I thought you were going to frak me?”

“Shut up and maybe I will.”  He lined himself up on his side next to her.  “Do you want me to start at the top or at the bottom?”

“Is this going to the be the last time you frak me?”

“Not if I can help it.”

“Then just get on with it.”  She put a finger on her lips.  “Right here.  The rest can wait.”

He teased at her lips, not really kissing her until she grabbed his ears and made him.   “Ow, Kara!”

“I said, get on with it, Apollo.  Kissing.  Sucking.  Frakking.  It’s not that complicated.”

“Wow.  You’re -”

“You talk too much.”  She curled a leg over his hip and flipped him.  She reached behind her and pushed his briefs down and sank down on his cock.  “Oh.  Yeah.  That’s what I needed.”

Lee tried to pull her down to kiss him, but she resisted.  “No.  You had your chance.  Nothing but frakking until you make me come.  And don’t think I can’t keep you on the edge as long as I need to.”  She shimmied in place and squeezed him.

“Oh.  Sweet Lords of Kobol.  Kara!”  His eyes rolled back.

“Lee!  Make it happen!”  She leaned forward far enough to put her hands on his shoulders.  “Or this will be the first and last time you get laid in this relationship we just started.”  

Lee’s entire being was funneled down to the six or seven inches of him _have I ever measured myself?  Oh, gods, what the frak difference does that make right now?  What the frak is wrong with me?_ buried inside Kara.  He forced himself to focus on making his fingers move and was gratified to hear her breathe out, “Yeah, just like that.”  He applied himself until he felt her orgasm roll through her and around him and it didn't take him any effort at all to let himself go right after.  

She collapsed onto his chest, trapping his hand uncomfortably between them, breath falling in hot waves across his neck.  “See?  Not complicated.  You do what I tell you, you get what you want.”  She fell off to the side and grinned at him.  “Now you can tease me.  When you find your brains.”  She giggled at her unintended pun, then pulled him to his side and laid a sloppy kiss on him.  

She rolled to her back and grabbed his hand, trailing it over her skin - across her neck, around her breasts, down the center of her torso.

“What the frak was that, Kara?” Lee mumbled.

“I don’t know.  Sometimes I get in a mood.  And you were taking too long.”  She reached a hand up to pull up an eyelid.  “Did you hate it?”

He swatted her hand away and shook his head.  “Nope.  Didn’t hate it.  Just wasn’t expecting it.  Now, what was the rest of that list?”  He grabbed the back of her head to pull her mouth to his.  “I think there was kissing on it?”  He sucked at her lips, pushed her face up and nipped at her chin.  “Um, given that last little interlude, maybe I should ask if there are rules for kissing today?”

Kara snickered.  “No rules.  You can kiss me anywhere.  Even....” she turned his head and whispered into his ear, “...my knees.”

Lee rolled on the bed laughing, then rolled back in to kiss her hard on the mouth.  “Gods, I love you!”

“You don’t have to say that.”

“I’m not saying it because I have to.  I. Love. You.”

She kissed him to keep him from saying it again.

“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing, Kara.”

“Shut up, Lee.  There are so many other things your mouth could be doing right now.”

He curled his tongue around a nipple and sucked her in.  

“Th-that - is one of them,” she gasped.

*&*

“If I say I love you right now, are you going to believe me?”

“Lee, your tongue is on my - _oh, frak_!” she moaned.  “I think I might believe anything you tell me right now.”

His breath ghosted out in a chuckle.  “So anytime you’re fighting me on something, all I have to do to win is go down on you?”

“Maybe,” she panted.  “If you can hold me down.  And if you don’t insist on talking through the entire thing.”

“Good to know.  Shutting up now.”

*&*

“You never noticed that when we were really frakking, just us, it was always quiet, like we wanted to keep it just for ourselves?”  He pushed a sweaty strand of hair behind her ear.  “You never noticed that all those times I said ‘I love you’ I never said it loud enough for anybody but you to hear?”

“Oh.”  She gave him a sheepish grin.  “I guess I wanted you to say it and mean it so badly that I thought I was imagining it.  It was so soft, it always seemed like it was only in my head.”

“I could run down the corridors shouting it so everybody can hear.  I love Kara Thrace.”

“Gods, no, Lee!”  She put a hand over his mouth.  “No shouting it in corridors.  You can keep whispering it in my ears.”

“I love you.”

She closed her eyes and tried it out.  “I love you, too.”

*&*

It wasn’t dinner, but dinner wasn’t what it would have been months ago anyway.   _This is probably as good as I’m going to get.  Worst Lee can do is say no, right?  Then in a couple of days, I just tell the Old Man that I decided not to change my name._  

“Sir?  I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Sure.  What’s on your mind, Kara?”

“When we talked before about the paperwork and the change in my next of kin and all that, I told you I needed to think about whether or not I wanted to change my name.”  She took a sip of her drink.  “Are you sure you’d really be okay with it?”

“Kara, nothing would please me more.  You know I’ve considered you family as long as I’ve known you.”

“I haven’t completely decided, but I’m thinking I really might like that - being part of the family.”

“I’m pretty sure Zak already considered you family, Kara.  It would just be a formality.”   _Well, frak.  If she’s still thinking about Zak enough to want to change her name, she and Lee are never going to get together.   I need to have a talk with that boy about the right time to make his move._  

“Well, like I said, I’m thinking about it.  I want to be sure before I ask you to do it.  So, give me a few more days to be certain?”

“Of course.”

*&*

“You know, son, a battlestar can be a lonely place without companionship.  It was bad enough before the Cylons came back, when we could still phone home or get letters from family.  It’s worse now, when we know that the people on this ship are all we have left.”

 _Where is dad going with this?  Oh, gods.  Is he going to tell me he was lonely out here and he’s fallen in love with Tigh?  I knew there was something different about them lately!_  “I agree.  It was a little rough at first, coming from Atlantia, not knowing anybody here.  At least I had Kara.”

“Exactly.  Kara.”  Bill beamed at Lee.

“She’s been great - making me laugh, telling me when I’m frakking up, short-sheeting my rack, pointing out my every inadequacy, stealing my towels.  She’s the best friend I’ve got.  I - I was pretty angry after Zak died, when she told me she was accepting a billet on Galactica with you, but gods, I’m glad she was here instead of some other battlestar.  I’m glad she’s still alive.”

“It’s funny how people’s feelings change over time.”

 _He is.  He’s trying to tell me he’s fallen in love with Saul.  Does he feel like he has to come out and actually say it?_  “Of course, dad.  People’s feelings change.”

“When they do, they should do something about it.  We’re at war.  When we find love, we should take our chance at it, because tomorrow, they, the person we love, might be gone.”

“Yes.  Absolutely, dad.  If we’re lucky enough to find someone to love out here in this tiny group of people that are left over, we should definitely grab on.”   _Is that vague enough?  Please, dad.  I don’t care if you’re in love with Saul Tigh.  More power to you if you find something to love in that crusty old man.  I don’t want details._  

“Good.  I’m glad we had this talk, Lee.”  Bill reached over the back of the couch and gripped Lee’s shoulder in a supportive squeeze.

 _Oookay._  “Yeah, dad.  Good talk.  I, um, I still need to go over flight schedules tonight.  Colonel Tigh expects next week’s first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Of course, son.  It was good to talk to you.  Good night.”

*&*

“I had the weirdest conversation with my dad tonight.”  He snuggled in closer to Kara’s back.

“Conversations with your father are pretty much always weird, Lee.  He won’t talk a straight line if he can wind around.  He likes to meander.”  She pulled his hand around her waist.

“No.  Well, yeah, but tonight, he was going on and on about feelings changing and finding love and grabbing your chance, and he smiled when I mentioned that I was glad you were here so I had at least one friend at the end of the worlds, and I swear he was trying to tell me he was in love with Saul Tigh, but then when I agreed with him, he just said, “Good talk, son.” and told me good night.”  He kissed her shoulder where her sleep tank had fallen aside.

 _Oh, Lee.  You completely didn’t get what your father was telling you.  Good thing I’ve had two years to interpret his weird conversational zig-zags and non-sequiturs.  He’s telling you to make your frakkin’ move_.

“Maybe he was actually trying to tell you in his own way that he wants you to find somebody and not be lonely anymore.  I’m pretty sure it wasn’t about Saul Tigh. _‘Cause Saul Tigh might have had red hair once, but it’s not nearly long enough for your father’s taste._

“You really think that’s what he was saying?  He doesn’t want me to be lonely?  Why couldn’t he just say that?”

“Winding, meandering conversations, Lee.  He was trying to be subtle.”   _Subtle doesn’t usually work with you Adama men.  None of you.  You’re all dense motherfrakkers.  I should have a talk with the President about that_.

“That went beyond subtle to downright obtuse.  I never would have gotten there from the way he was talking.”

“So maybe you should.”  She did her best not to tense as she made the suggestion.

“Should what?”

“Find somebody.  Not be lonely anymore.”

“Somebody besides you?”

“Besides me?  Do you have me, Lee?”

Lee half sat up and turned Kara’s face toward him.  “I thought I did.  Are you trying to tell me you don’t want this anymore?  Have I done something?”

“I haven’t changed my mind.”  She turned her face back toward the wall.  “You haven’t done anything, Lee.”

Something about the way she said that stuck in Lee’s brain as he drifted off to sleep.  His eyes popped open two hours later.  He pushed Kara’s hair aside and kissed her neck, tongued her tattoo.  When she started to rouse just the slightest bit, he whispered to her, “Marry me, Kara.”

“‘Kay.”

“Are you going to remember you said that in the morning?”

“Yep.”  She rolled over facing him, but her eyes were still closed.

“You sure?”

She reached up a fist into his hair and pulled him in for a hot, wet kiss.  “I said yes.  Yes, I will marry you.  Yes, I will remember I said it.  Yes, I wanna frak now.  Can you shut up long enough to do that, Lee?”

“I can probably shut up before you can get naked.”

“Too late.  Guess you weren’t paying attention, flyboy.  There’s a naked girl in my rack.”

Lee looked at her.   _When the frak did she do that?_  “So there is.  What ever should I do with this gift from the gods?”

“You should shut up and frak her before she gets pissed off.”

“Shutting up now.”

“I am really going to have to find some better way to occupy your mouth, Lee Adama.”

“I have an idea or two.”

“Then you should try one.  Because you are starting to - _oh_ , that’s a good one.  Almost the best one you’ve had all night.”

About ten minutes later, Lee whispered harshly, “Frak, Kara!  When did you learn that?”

She snickered.  “If we stay alive long enough to make it to fifty years, you will _still_ not have seen all my tricks.”

“Oh, gods.  I love you.”

“Uh-huh.”  He could feel her mouth spread into a smile on his skin.

*&*

“I don’t want to look all girly - it’s me Lee’s marrying.  But I am getting married.  How often does a girl do that?  I want to look pretty.  I’m asking you because the one of you who was on this ship was my friend before we figured out you were all Cylons, and she would have done this for me.  She would have been laughing her ass off at me for marrying Apollo, of course.  And telling me everything she won in the pool.”

*&*

“You know we’re doing it here because we need two witnesses who won’t talk, and we know the two of you will keep your mouths shut.  We also know that even if you tell anybody what we’re doing today, no one will believe you, because you’re a Cylon.”  She turned to Karl.  ”And you’re the Cylon’s boyfriend.”

*&*

They’d used some sleight of hand to get Saul to unknowingly sign orders for the Marines to station themselves at the outer brig doors for two hours today, so it was just the five of them in the inner room.

Kara looked at the priest, then over Lee’s shoulder.  She stood up straighter and looked him in the eye tentatively, though her voice was clear.  

“Lee Adama, I marry you before all the Lords of Kobol and these witnesses, and I make you these promises.”

“I promise to be your friend, even when you piss me off.”

Lee’s eyebrows rose, and Kara shrugged innocently.

“I promise to participate in our relationship, even, no especially, if that means fighting with you.”

Lee grinned wryly at that one.

“I promise to love you, even when you break your ship and I have to come rescue you.”

Lee looked as if he wanted to protest.  Kara smirked at him.

“I promise to take you down a notch when you are getting too big for your flight suit.”

One corner of his mouth rose.

“I promise to listen to you even when your plan sucks.”

Kara’s mouth twitched, and Lee looked at the ground to keep from laughing out loud.

“I promise to keep you even when you’re always too tired or have a headache.”

She waggled her eyebrows at him suggestively and Lee shook his head at her.

“I promise to fight you tooth and nail if you ever decide you made a mistake and want out.”

Kara almost teared up on that one, and Lee squeezed her hands to calm her down, and to silently let her know, _Yeah, you better fight me if I ever change my mind_.

Lee held her hands firmly and stepped just the tiniest bit closer to her. “Kara Thrace, I marry you before all the Lords of Kobol and these witnesses, and I make you these promises.”

“I choose you as my best friend for life - my confidant, my partner, my wife.”

“In the blackest night or the farthest reaches of space, you will forever be my beacon.”

“We can accomplish anything, because we are better together than we are alone.”

“Together, our love will be too strong to break.”

Kara shook her head at him.  “You are such a sap,” she whispered.

At the same time, the priest intoned, “So say we all.”  Kara giggled at the timing.

Kara felt Karl move up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders to steady her.  She knew he could tell she was verging on hysteria.  Or bolting from the brig.

Lee’s hands tightened on hers almost painfully, and he glanced at the priest, waiting impatiently for the cue.  

“Traditionally, the contract is sealed with a kiss.”

Kara was paralyzed, wide-eyed with fear.   _Frak.  What the hell did I just do?  Please, Lords, let me not frak up his life.  Oh, my frakking gods.  I should never have frakking done this.  What if he’s just humoring me?  ohshit ohshit ohshit_

Somehow Lee understood exactly what was going through her mind.  He stepped forward, framed her face with his hands, and leaned his forehead against hers for just a moment.  Then he pulled back a tiny bit, rubbed his nose on hers to break her mood and kissed her gently.

The touch of his lips broke her momentary stasis, and she closed her arms around his waist and opened her mouth to let him in.  They got lost in the kissing until the priest cleared her throat and Karl smacked Kara lightly on the back of her head.  

“Hey, that can wait for the honeymoon, kids.  We’ve got a wedding to finish.”

“Shut up, Karl.  He’s my husband now, and I want to kiss him.”  Lee pulled back, though, and they all looked at the priest expectantly.

“Witnessed before the Lords of Kobol, you are wed until death separates you one from another.  You stand before us now as husband and wife.  So say we all.”

“So say we all” rang through the brig.

Lee smiled benevolently at everyone as Kara tugged on his hand.  “We can leave now, right?”

Karl laughed at her.  “Eager to get started, Kara?”

“If by eager you mean do I want to frak my husband into exhaustion?  Then yes, I’m eager to get started.”

*&*

“Hey, wife.”  Sleepy blue eyes roamed her face.

“Hey.”   _My first morning married to Lee Adama._  She closed her eyes and kissed her new husband.   _And how about that married sex, huh?  Who said it was boring?  He was_ feisty _last night.  Didn’t know he had that much stamina.  Why wasn’t I frakking him a long time ago?  Oh yeah.  Because I’m an idiot.  But at least I’m the idiot that he married_.

She pulled him tighter, “Mmmming” with pleasure.

*&*

“Should we tell them?”

“Do _you_ think we should tell them?”

“Are you kidding me?  I wanna see how far they’ll go to get us together.”  

END


	2. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue

_Well, well, well.  Isn’t this interesting?  A marriage certificate for Leland Joseph Adama and Kara Thrace.  Leland?_  She laughed to herself.   _Yes!  They’d been married for, hmmm, two weeks now.  Oh, and they were married by a priest.  No going halfway for these two.  So why is Bill still convinced that they’re not together?_

*&*

“Kara came to see me a few days ago.”

“Oh?  Everything all right?”

“Yes, of course. Just letting me know that she wanted to go ahead and change her last name to Adama.”

_Devious, Kara.  I like that._  “You seem disappointed, Bill.  What’s the problem?”

“Not a problem, exactly.  I’ve always considered her family, even without the name.   I just really hoped she and Lee would figure out they belonged together, and it doesn’t look like that’ll ever happen now.  They seem to be more like brother and sister every time I see them.  I’ve even seen him with Dee a few times.  It’s frustrating, and disheartening, that’s all.  I want them to have each other for comfort.  Things are likely to get worse and I just wish...”

It was all she could do not to blurt out that the kids were not only together, but married.  She hoped he would forgive her for this.  She just thought it would be better coming from them and not from her.  Maybe she could make a few subtle suggestions to Captain Apollo.

*&*

“Oh, Captain Apollo.  Just the person I wanted to see.”

“What is it you need, Madame President?”

“It’s not so much what I need as what you need to know.  Your father and I were talking the other night, and he was telling me how much it bothers him that - well, he thinks you’re lonely, and he wants to do something about it.  I did attempt to subtly let him know that a young man in your situation wouldn’t want his father finding dates for him.  He seemed quite determined to make up for his previous failings as a father, though.  

Her very slight emphasis on the ‘your’ in ‘your situation’ made Lee wonder if Roslin knew that he and Kara were together.   _No.  How would she know?  We’ve certainly not told anybody.  I mean, Helo and Sharon know, but I’m pretty sure Kara threatened Sharon with the airlock if either of them ever breathed a word.  The priest knows, but why would she tell anybody, much less find a way to tell the President?_  He mentally smacked his head.   _Leland, Leland, Leland.  You and Kara signed paperwork, which the priest would have had to turn in for vital statistics counting.  And who would care more about vital statistics than a President with a running whiteboard count of the number of people left in the human race?  Some lawyer you’d make._

*&*

“Uh, Kara?  I’m pretty sure the President knows we’re married.”

When Kara looked at him in question, he tried to explain how he’d figured it out, but Kara was less caring about the how and more about the what are we gonna do about it.  He added, “She hasn’t told my father.  I think she wants to, though.  They’re friends.  It’s got to be killing her to know and not tell him.”  He backed away a little bit and added, “And she says my dad thinks I’m lonely and he’s going to suggest I start dating.”

“Frak if you’re dating anybody else, Lee Adama.  You’re mine now.”

“Yes.  I am.  But my dad doesn’t know that, does he?”

“Maybe it’s time to tell him.  It’s been three weeks.”

“Maybe it’s time to tell everybody.  It would be nice to stop being so careful about every little word and gesture.”

“It’d be nice to call you husband in public.”

“I think I’d be afraid to call you wife in public.”  He grinned and ducked as if expecting a blow.  “We could ask him if he has time for dinner one night this week.  Tell him we have something important to discuss.”  Lee paused, then continued, “You know once we tell him, he’s going to start thinking grandchildren.”

“He’s doomed to disappointment, Apollo.  I am not having babies.  Not even yours.”  She leered at him.  “It’s a shame those genes won’t get passed down to another generation, though.  You sure would make pretty babies.”


End file.
